Athenas Head North to Begin NCAA Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released Monday the bracket for the Division III Softball Tournament, and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas were selected to travel to Lindfield College for the opening weekend. The Athenas will oppose George Fox in their first game on Friday. The Regional is comprised of only three teams so things will get a little funky, but is a double-elimination weekend with one team advancing to a best-of-three game series in the Super Regional the following weekend.
This is the Athenas' eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, after previously advancing to the National Tournament in 2009, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, and '16. The Athenas hold an all-time record of 12-14 (.462) in the NCAA Tournament in program history.
The Athenas are currently unranked in the latest NFCA National Poll, but hold the sixth spot in the Regional Rankings as of May 3. CMS has come on strong at the end of the year, sweeping their way through the SCIAC Tournament to earn the Automatic Qualifier from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). In the Conference Tournament, CMS earned close victories over La Verne (2-0) and Pomona-Pitzer (2-1) to advance to the SCIAC Championship where they beat La Verne by a 2-0 final.
The Athenas and Lindfield Wildcats squared off earlier this season with CMS earning a 7-0 victory in Claremont on Feb. 16. CMS and George Fox have not faced each other since the 2016 Regional when the Bruins earned a 5-2 victory on May 13, 2016.
Fans are encouraged to follow cmsathletics.org throughout the week for more information on the Regional.